Canon and Sony go at it in the latest BCN Japanese market share report

Canon Rumors Guy

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BCN Awards has released their camera and lens market share report for 2020 in Japan. This is not a representation of worldwide sales, so please keep that in mind.
I will say that I’m surprised that Canon didn’t hit the top 3 in video cameras, which is likely not too influenced by Cinema EOS, but even the more affordable offerings don’t see to make much noise in Japan.
The pandemic may have affected these numbers in some way, but we won’t get a picture of how they were affected for another year or two. Canon obviously sold less EOS M cameras than in 2019 and lost market share to Sony in mirrorless cameras, but the EOS R6 and EOS R5 are selling extremely well in Japan and globally, considering they’re still hard to come by is good news for Canon.
Mirrorless cameras...

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Some notes...

Re: MILC

Not that surprising

Re: SLR camera

It should be "Pentax" rather than "Ricoh" in the SLR market Also Canon, Nikon and Pentax are the remaining brands.

Based on Petax CEO's comment his brand may be the last SLR company after 2024.

Re: Lens

I am really surprised that Nikon was not ranked as #3. Is Nikon selling that poorly?
 
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josephandrews222

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Canon is lacking a very good APS-C mirrorless lineup. The M is dying seems like while Sony has much better selection of cameras and lenses in sub $1000 segment. Just my opinion tho.

To borrow a phrase: Fake News as usual


...from the link: "The Canon EOS M50, known as the “Kiss M” in Japan, took over the top spot on the camera model sales"

...

And I'm reminded of the Mark Twain quote (as it pertains to the M series): "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

I'm also reminded of a much more modern word: clickbait!
 
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Joules

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I guess the lack of a clear budget oriented segment in the RF ecosystem may have hurt Canon when competing against Sony during 'these unprecedented times'. The RP is somewhat showing its age (Internally, that is) in contrast to the new models in higher price brackets.

With that huge amount of product they have on the stove, and the general circumstances of this data, it is probably not worth discussing any claims of doom seriously right now.
 
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I wonder how this breaks down between crop and full frame? Based on BCN's November report, Canon's full frame share was shooting sharply up, and other reports have the R5 selling well, so chances are the drop in overall mirrorless share was due to crop. This may indicate that just as Rebel sales collapsed, the same might be happening on the mirrorless side. If this is true, this could further reinforce the rumor that the M system may be discontinued. Anyway, both Sony and Canon lost mirrorless market share, most likely due to Nikon, where reports from Japan indicate that the Z6 II and Z7 II are selling well there. I suspect Sony lost less share than Canon because their mix was skewed towards full frame, which is less impacted by mobile phones. It will be very interesting to see if Sony can fend off the R5/R6 with the upcoming A74, otherwise 2021 may be the year that Canon overtakes both the mirrorless full frame and overall mirrorless market (which is probably increasingly the same) from Sony in their home market.
 
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Rocksthaman

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Canon will stay on the bottom of the cinema list as long as they cripple the mirrorless lines.

The “cinema” features are missing from the mirrorless cameras/DSLR . The entry level buyers that would buy cinema, don’t have a great option to buy into. I almost bought a C100 recently to go with my R5 but it just feels limiting.

Log, record limits, overheating, going back to micro hdmi, weird issues with hdmi out, record media limitations, no raw(w/o magic lantern). It really feels like most companies let the hardware differentiate but Canon does with the software and price.

The value buy is to get Black Magic, Sony , Panasonic or a “box” style camera and use ef lenses. There’s just no entry level, “if you want a video camera buy a cinema camera”... The market said OK.

The two go hand in hand, Nikon not having an upgrade path at all hurts z Mount too. Hate that as the market is better when there is a strong third option.
 
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ctk

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Thom Hogan recently did a piece on MILC pricing. Canon has a huge gap between the R & RP which I think is the heard of the market right now. When they fill that- and it's definitely a case of when- they will extend their lead. I think something like a Z5 fighter on the RF side and an EF-M flagship (with commensurate constant aperture kit zoom) would be a good 1-2 punch in the ~$1000-1500 price bracket.
 
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Canon will stay on the bottom of the cinema list as long as they cripple the mirrorless lines.

The “cinema” features are missing from the mirrorless cameras/DSLR . The entry level buyers that would buy cinema, don’t have a great option to buy into. I almost bought a C100 recently to go with my R5 but it just feels limiting.

Log, record limits, overheating, going back to micro hdmi, weird issues with hdmi out, record media limitations, no raw(w/o magic lantern). It really feels like most companies let the hardware differentiate but Canon does with the software and price.

The value buy is to get Black Magic, Sony , Panasonic or a “box” style camera and use ef lenses. There’s just no entry level, “if you want a video camera buy a cinema camera”... The market said OK.

The two go hand in hand, Nikon not having an upgrade path at all hurts z Mount too. Hate that as the market is better when there is a strong third option.

I've mentioned this before, but Canon has struggled with its cinema line. You got a hint from its quarterly reports starting from late 2019 or early 2020 when it put its cinema segment into industry and was quite silent about it after successive quarters. Multiple cinema news sites would later report that competitors like Blackmagic or Kinefinity were putting a dent into Canon's cinema market-share (At least in Asia).

I've always felt this way as well. Canon's competitive cinema products were always higher priced and had arbitrary limits imposed. Canon had done this for years and most argued that it was because they had the biggest market share and better understood the market. While that may be true for consumer products, I don't think they can argue that this same approach works in the pro segment, especially when they are NOT the market leaders in that segment.
 
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These numbers say what some of us have been saying - there is a big market for small mirrorless cameras. Many people want small cameras. Canon gained mirrorless market share with the m50, m100, m200 - and then they stagnated in the market and quit releasing cameras and lens. As a result, Sony and others have gained ground. Many people do not want a RF sized camera and lens system. An RF camera and lens is never going to be small enough. I hope these numbers wake Canon up to this reality. An M50 with 4K DP AF, some more lenses, and better autofocus is good enough for the vast majority of camera buyers.
 
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I've mentioned this before, but Canon has struggled with its cinema line. You got a hint from its quarterly reports starting from late 2019 or early 2020 when it put its cinema segment into industry and was quite silent about it after successive quarters. Multiple cinema news sites would later report that competitors like Blackmagic or Kinefinity were putting a dent into Canon's cinema market-share (At least in Asia).

Look at Canon's broadcast lens advertisement videos some time. They show the Canon lenses on Sony cameras. They are being realistic, broadcasters buy Sony cameras but use Canon or Fujinon lenses on them.

Canon may never be able to make up the ground, they are spending a big chunk of their war chest on acquiring industrial businesses in the imaging field. Businesses that are not adversely affected by the shift to smart phones for photography, or may benefit from it.
 
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